Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Transportation Department is outlining changes Tuesday to the U.S. government's 5-Star Safety Rating System that will make it more difficult for new cars and trucks to earn top scores.
Only two of the first 34 vehicles tested under the new program — the 2011 BMW 5 Series and a version of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata — received the top grade of five stars.

Melmor Associates Inc. (Niles, OH) has added a new product line, which includes platform trucks, direct drive portable blowers, chrome wire shelving and carts, casters, bulk containers, and more. The new products include the Prohanger, which is a plastic cradle that holds, hangs, and organizes extra-long parts in service trucks used by technicians.

Knaack LLC (Crystal Lake, IL) Jobsite storage products are now manufactured using a new powder paint process, which now offers improved corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance, scratch resistant, and paint film thickness. According to the company, corrosion resistance is now five times better than the company’s previous liquid enamel paint, and abrasion resistance is 2.

A full range of welding end prep tools that combine a formed tool bit with an adjustable bit locking system are available from ESCO Tool (Holliston, MA) with the ESCO MILLHOG Welding End Prep Tools. The line includes several models for machining compound end preps on tube and pipe from 2” I.

The r2b Horizontal Form Fill Seal Bagger from WeighPack (Lachine, QC Canada) can create a wide variety of bags to integrate bag-making, filling, sealing, and printing into one automatic process, which can reduce labor and film costs. The r2b uses laminated roll firm stock, which can be used to create an array of bags, including: flat-bottom, stand-up, 3-sided seal, 4-sided seal, and with or without zipper closures.

Meeting in the middle: Wireless sensor networks must reduce power requirements, while energy harvesting technology continues to improve.
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Approximately 100 years after Michael Faraday came Nikola Tesla, another European electrical theory giant who parted his hair down the middle. Faraday brought us the DC motor and much more; Tesla brought us the AC motor and likewise.

When we think of dead wood, we will always think termites before we think family.
"This economy is lumpy.”
The statement didn’t launch the event with the flash and bang that I had anticipated. Then again, I was a first-timer and had no idea what to expect.
For some reason, as I was munching on food from the journalist trough on the SolidWorks campus, I pictured a press event with musical overtures, pyrotechnics, and a shotgun blast to kick it off.

DETROIT (AP) — New models and Labor Day holiday promotions didn't do much to fire Americans' appetites for new cars in September.
Sales at Chrysler and Ford rose slightly from August. They fell at General Motors and Honda and were flat at Toyota. Car companies say a recovery is still happening, but it's not as strong as they had hoped following a terrible 2009.

NEW YORK (AP) — Here's something to think about the next time you pick up a call on your iPhone: the device you're holding may soon be the signature product of the most valuable company in the world.
Thanks to its line of gadgets that combine the ability to make calls, send email, read books, watch movies and listen to music, Apple Inc.

TOKYO (AP) — China's recent halt of exotic metal shipments to Japan amid a diplomatic spat has reverberated throughout the world's high-tech manufacturing hubs — now on heightened alert to the risks of relying on one country for materials that do everything from helping hybrid engines run to creating the color red in televisions.

NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP) — The plan for being the best involves building a robot.
At Lawrence County Career and Technical Center, the best stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology.
Students from various shops have been meeting with electronics instructor Barry Clever to construct a prototype operating robot.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — General Electric plans to invest $68 million to redesign side-by-side refrigerators made at an Indiana plant.
Louisville, Ky.-based GE Appliances & Lighting told employees at the Bloomington plant Friday about the investment. It's part of an agreement with the union in May that includes a wage freeze and competitive wage structure for new employees.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks started off October on a positive note following mostly good news on the economy.
Shares of big manufacturing companies like Boeing Co., General Electric Co. and 3M Co. rose Friday after the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index showed that factory activity was still expanding in September, although not quite as fast as analysts had hoped and slightly slower than the month before.

Not surprisingly, safety has always been a top concern for food and beverage companies. So, it goes without saying that this is a precise industry, one that requires the highest standards in hygienic and sanitary production processes. Despite this emphasis on food safety, there still have been a number of scandals that have combined to give the consuming public reduced trust in the safety that the industry can provide.

Things are not looking up for manufacturers of the bacon-wrapped turkey-infused donut. I'm not sure that such a product is real, but the level of disappointment I've felt walking the grocery store aisles lately leads me to believe that it must be.
A CDC report released last month shows that a record number of U.

According to Creform Corporation (Greer, SC), every manufacturing plant, fabricating shop, or machining facility has a need for safe storage and disposal of oily or solvent-soaked rags. The oil pail cart from Creform has been designed to meet ergonomic requirements while securely holding the container and preventing it from tipping.

The FMG600 Series electromagnetic flow meters from Omega Engineering (Stamford, CT) are designed for the measurement of conductive liquids. The FMG600 mag meters have no moving parts, which means they can handle applications involving wastewater, pulp, food, and slurries. Standard outputs include analog, frequency, and RS485 communications.

Reed Manufacturing Company’s (Erie, PA) ½ horsepower, electric 5401TMSO Threading Machine centers and chucks pipe or conduit for cutting, threading, and reaming applications. The oil system uses a self-priming pump that floods the pipe with oil while threading, and the open workspace features a large, integral oil reservoir.

The mobile Steam Sampling Cart from Spriax Sarco (Blythewood, SC) is engineered to improve safety, efficiency, and operability in the collection of pure steam samples for testing. The unit is designed to take critical quality samples for total organic carbon (TOC), conductivity, microbial levels, and endotoxin monitoring.

Alliance Packaging is a well-known, independent corrugated box manufacturer with several facilities located throughout northwest United States. The company provides a full range of packaging solutions from custom shipping containers to retail packaging, from stock boxes to in-store displays, from creative design to same day delivery service.